SOUTH ROYALTON — The White River Valley High boys basketball team took in a horror film to start the season.

After a Dec. 13 meal at the home of third-year coach D.J. Craven, the Wildcats cued up video of last winter’s VPA Division III semifinal loss to Thetford at the Barre Auditorium. The Wildcats fell, 60-58, after leading by 20 points in the third quarter and by 12 points with five minutes to play.

“I struggled to watch it that day,” Craven said. “You could see on their faces and hear in their comments that they knew what they shouldn’t have done. But there was no finger-pointing. They’re a very mature group and they talked it out.”

Said senior Wyatt Cadwell: “Everyone on the team hated watching it, but I knew we needed to start the season with some fire, some energy. You could feel we had it, as soon as we got on the bus.”

White River Valley (22-0) won its opener by nine points at Division II Hartford a few hours later. On Saturday, it routed Bellows Falls, 93-41, in the division quarterfinals and can make further amends at 7:45 p.m. on Thursday when it faces Hazen in a semifinal at Barre. The fifth-seeded Wildcats (16-6) beat fourth-seeded Richford by 18 points Saturday, 65-47.

“The Aud is the greatest place in Vermont basketball,” Craven said. “The younger guys, I don’t know how they’ll react, but the older guys will have a cool, calm mentality. That’s where you want to play your last game.”

Bellows Falls’ season came to an effective end early in Saturday’s contest. The ninth-seeded Terriers trailed by 13 points after a quarter and by 26 points at halftime while suffering a stunningly bad shooting performance that included numerous air balls.

White River Valley forced 23 turnovers during the contest while receiving 41 points from Zander Clark, 18 of them before intermission. The Wildcats roared up and down the floor, turning fast breaks and no-look passes into an avalanches of points.

If it wasn’t the left-handed Clark knifing to the hoop or draining one of his five three-point shots, it was post man Donovan Craven. The coach’s kid, who missed much of last season with a broken hand, played with his back to the hoop, receiving passes in the paint before deftly redirecting the ball to unguarded teammates for open shots from the corners.

“I don’t know if we’re faster than everybody else, but we move the ball faster than everybody else,” said D.J. Craven, whose team has won 17 games by 20 points or more this winter.

“Even with blowing everybody out, we still take the time to move the ball around and look for the easy shot that’s wide open.”

Brayden Russ added 16 points for the hosts, Dawson Poland had 12 and Jordan Barcomb and Cadwell each chipped in nine. Will Hallock led Bellows Falls (11-11) with 10 points.

“There are very few teams that can run with us in D-III,” D.J. Craven said. “One of them we’re playing Thursday, and the other we’re probably going to meet in the finals and that’s Thetford. We want them.”

Notes: White River Valley didn’t play Thetford or Hazen during the regular season. It beat Bellows Falls, 101-35, in late January. … Clark, Cadwell, Craven and Russ are the Wildcats’ seniors. … Cadwell’s older sister, former Thetford Academy hoopster Addison Cadwell, recently completed her freshman season for Ohio’s Dickinson College. She appeared in seven games and played 22 minutes for the Red Devils (14-13). … Tickets for Thursday’s game can be purchased at https://gofan.co/app/school/VPA.

Tris Wykes can be reached at ctwykes@aol.com.